Chemical And Physical Properties Of The Heterogeneous Pluto And Charon Surfaces

Details Chemical And Physical Properties Of The Heterogeneous Pluto And Charon Surfaces Chemical And Physical Properties Of The Heterogeneous Pluto And Charon Surfaces

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.4705m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #47.05

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

We present new photometric and spectroscopic observations of the Pluto-Charon system obtained in April 2008. These observations were carried out at the VLT-ESO (Chile) with two 8-meter telescopes equipped with the FORS, ISAAC and SINFONI instruments. The spectra have been performed in the 0.6-2.45 microns range with a spectral resolution from 500 to 1500. The SINFONI data were obtained using Adaptive Optics, allowing a complete separation of the two bodies. From our analysis, we are able to derive both objects’ magnitudes in the near infrared and convert them into albedo values. These first near infrared photometric data and previous ones performed in the visible, by Buie et al. (1997) and Buratti et al. (2003), are used to adjust the different parts of Pluto's spectrum, provided by the three instruments. We run spectral models, based on the Hapke theory (1981-1993) in order to give chemical and physical constraints of the surface of Pluto and Charon. Particularly, we search for irradiated products, such as ethane and ethylene, which are the main products of irradiation and photolysis processes. We also discuss the dilution properties of the methane ice and its implications on Pluto's surface. A work on the heterogeneities of the pure and diluted methane ice on Pluto's surface is also presented.

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